Ucal Grey was so afraid of his grade-six teacher, he couldn't even look her in the eyes. Yet, he was hyperactive and very talkative. When he was inattentive and lost in his own little world at the back of the class, Mrs Jones would creep up on him and clunk him on his head with a broad wood ruler. Ucal would fall to the ground and squirm in pain, while Mrs Jones would continue her class.

At nights, Ucal lay trembling, wondering why Mrs Jones was so cruel to him. He would reflect on the fact that she never beat Taddy Tomlinson, the mischievous brown boy sitting right in front of her. Taddy did everything to get Mrs Jones' attention, but she would look right over him, trying to find a target for her duster. And Ucal couldn't tell his parents about the beatings, for they would have given him their share of 'murderation'. He got it anyway, in the mornings, for wetting the bed while he slept.

It was the turbulent 1970s and the Michael Manley government was in power. Every Friday, Mrs Jones gave Ucal money and a big, brown bag to go to the Agricultural Marketing Cooperation, popularly known as AMC, to buy ground provisions and Cuban condensed milk.

scared of Mrs Jones

One evening, rain caught Ucal on the way back, and the brown paper bag got wet and burst. Everything fell from it. What wasn't washed away was run over by vehicles. Fearing what Mrs Jones might have done to him, Ucaldidn't return to school. He slowly and dejectedly walked home in the rain. For the entire weekend, he shook and wet the bed some more.

Monday morning saw a scared Ucal leaving for school very early for the morning shift. It was Daylight Saving Time. In his class, he sat in trepidation waiting for Mrs Jones and his classmates to arrive. One by one they entered, but none said a word to him. Until Mrs Jones arrived.

"Tief! Tief! Tief!" the class shouted. "Shut up!" Mrs Jones screamed. Then, she turned to Ucal Grey and asked in a stern voice, "You, where is mi money and mi bag?" The trembling Ucal took his time to get up, and explained what had happened. "Liar! Liar!" Mrs Jones bellowed, when he was finished, and she moved towards Ucal with the broad wood ruler.

For the next several weeks, Ucal had to repay her every cent of his lunch money until it amounted to what she had given him, in addition to his lessons' fees for classes that were never held.

could hardly read

Common Entrance came around and Ucal knew he had 'failed' from the day of the exam. Yet, when the results were published in The Gleaner, he searched until he was nearly blind. His name was not there. The local secondary school was where he ended up, but dropped out along the way. He could hardly read. He grew up to live a relatively good life, though, but he was a bitter man.

One day, last week, he went back to the community where he was brought up to visit a relative's grave. Just as he was about to exit the cemetery he saw a new grave with flowers on it. He stopped to see whose it was. On the tomb-stone was etched: "In loving memory of Merilda Bernice Jones, devoted teacher and loving mother."

Ucal jumped upon the grave in a frenzy and stomped powerfully on it. He looked around to see whether anybody was in sight. Nobody. He stood over the headstone and within seconds the final resting place of Merilda Bernice Jones was awash with an abundance of Ucal Grey's urinary excrement.

When he was finished, he used the red mud on the sole of his right shoe to write F, F for failure, beside the vase of flowers. He then walked out of the cemetery a much lighter man, for Mrs Jones was no longer on his mind.

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